Move on, Onanuga tells El-Rufai amid criticism

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

The former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has been urged by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, to put his grudges aside and stop complaining about not being named a minister in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.

El-Rufai had claimed in an interview with AriseTV that President Tinubu himself rejected his nomination, contrary to the narrative that the Senate was responsible.

Onanuga, who urged El-Rufai to move on from the past, claimed in an interview on Tuesday that the reason for his ongoing criticism of the government was his omission from the ministerial list.

“As a person, I think I will pity the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. He feels hurt that he was not made a minister, but I think it’s a long time; the ministers came in in August 2023. I think it’s time for him to move on,” Onanuga said.

He remarked that while it was fair for El-Rufai to be dissatisfied, it was wrong for him to go on a public campaign against the President.

“It’s natural for him to feel hurt; it’s natural for him to feel bad that he’s been excluded. And as the President acknowledged in a recent birthday tribute to him, Nasiru actually helped a lot in installing President Tinubu. But if he’s not there, it doesn’t mean that he must bring down the roof,” he added.

Addressing concerns about the relationship between the President and El-Rufai, Onanuga insisted that Tinubu held no personal grudge against the former governor.

“The President has nothing personally against Nasiru, and so if Nasiru feels naturally hurt that he has been excluded, and that’s why he’s going about everywhere campaigning against the President, it shows a man who resents being left out of the moving train and who will not let go,” he stated.

Onanuga stressed that El-Rufai had been in public service since 1999 and should embrace a new phase of his life. “My advice for him as a brother, as a former governor, is to appeal to him that he should forget it if he’s not made a minister,” he said.

While El-Rufai has also criticised the administration’s policies and governance approach, Onanuga dismissed his views as a personal opinion that does not align with reality.

“This government inherited a lot of problems, and if you look at the figures and other things that we are witnessing, things are getting better. We are certainly not where we were in 2023,” he asserted.

He pointed to improvements in economic indicators as proof of the administration’s progress. “This administration has done a lot to re-engineer the economy, and we are seeing positive figures. We’re seeing inflation coming down, our foreign reserves growing, and so many positive things happening,” Onanuga concluded.